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BlueXP classification

Scan Cloud Volumes ONTAP and on-premises ONTAP volumes with BlueXP classification

Contributors netapp-tonacki amgrissino netapp-bcammett
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Complete a few steps to start scanning your Cloud Volumes ONTAP and on-premises ONTAP volumes using BlueXP classification.

Quick start

Get started quickly by following these steps, or scroll down to the remaining sections for full details.

One Discover the data sources that you want to scan

Before you can scan volumes, you must add the systems as working environments in BlueXP:

Two Deploy the BlueXP classification instance

Deploy BlueXP classification if there isn't already an instance deployed.

Three Enable BlueXP classification and select the volumes to scan

Select the Configuration tab and activate compliance scans for volumes in specific working environments.

Four Ensure access to volumes

Now that BlueXP classification is enabled, ensure that it can access all volumes.

  • The BlueXP classification instance needs a network connection to each Cloud Volumes ONTAP subnet or on-prem ONTAP system.

  • Security groups for Cloud Volumes ONTAP must allow inbound connections from the BlueXP classification instance.

  • Make sure these ports are open to the BlueXP classification instance:

    • For NFS - ports 111 and 2049.

    • For CIFS - ports 139 and 445.

  • NFS volume export policies must allow access from the BlueXP classification instance.

  • BlueXP classification needs Active Directory credentials to scan CIFS volumes.

    Click Compliance > Configuration > Edit CIFS Credentials and provide the credentials.

Five Manage the volumes you want to scan

Select or deselect the volumes that you want to scan and BlueXP classification will start or stop scanning them.

Discover the data sources that you want to scan

If the data sources you want to scan are not already in your BlueXP environment, you can add them to the canvas at this time.

Your Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems should already be available in the Canvas in BlueXP. For on-premises ONTAP systems, you'll need to have BlueXP discover these clusters.

Deploy the BlueXP classification instance

Deploy BlueXP classification if there isn't already an instance deployed.

If you are scanning Cloud Volumes ONTAP and on-premises ONTAP systems that are accessible over the internet, you can deploy BlueXP classification in the cloud or in an on-premises location that has internet access.

If you are scanning on-premises ONTAP systems that have been installed in a dark site that has no internet access, you need to deploy BlueXP classification in the same on-premises location that has no internet access. This also requires that the BlueXP Connector is deployed in that same on-premises location.

Upgrades to BlueXP classification software is automated as long as the instance has internet connectivity.

Enable BlueXP classification in your working environments

You can enable BlueXP classification on Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems in any supported cloud provider, and on on-premises ONTAP clusters.

  1. From the BlueXP left navigation menu, click Governance > Classification and then select the Configuration tab.

    A screenshot of the Configuration tab immediately after deploying the BlueXP classification instance.

  2. Select how you want to scan the volumes in each working environment. Learn about mapping and classification scans:

    • To map all volumes, click Map all Volumes.

    • To map and classify all volumes, click Map & Classify all Volumes.

    • To customize scanning for each volume, click Or select scanning type for each volume, and then choose the volumes you want to map and/or classify.

      See Enable and disable compliance scans on volumes for details.

  3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Approve to have BlueXP classification start scanning your volumes.

Result

BlueXP classification starts scanning the volumes you selected in the working environment. Results will be available in the Compliance dashboard as soon as BlueXP classification finishes the initial scans. The time that it takes depends on the amount of data—​it could be a few minutes or hours.

Note

  • By default, if BlueXP classification doesn't have write attributes permissions in CIFS, or write permissions in NFS, the system won't scan the files in your volumes because BlueXP classification can't revert the "last access time" to the original timestamp. If you don't care if the last access time is reset, click Or select scanning type for each volume. The resulting page has a setting you can enable so that BlueXP classification will scan the volumes regardless of permissions.

  • BlueXP classification scans only one file share under a volume. If you have multiple shares in your volumes, you'll need to scan those other shares separately as a shares group. See more details about this BlueXP classification limitation.

Verify that BlueXP classification has access to volumes

Make sure that BlueXP classification can access volumes by checking your networking, security groups, and export policies. You'll need to provide BlueXP classification with CIFS credentials so it can access CIFS volumes.

Steps

  1. Make sure that there's a network connection between the BlueXP classification instance and each network that includes volumes for Cloud Volumes ONTAP or on-prem ONTAP clusters.

  2. Ensure that the security group for Cloud Volumes ONTAP allows inbound traffic from the BlueXP classification instance.

    You can either open the security group for traffic from the IP address of the BlueXP classification instance, or you can open the security group for all traffic from inside the virtual network.

  3. Ensure the following ports are open to the BlueXP classification instance:

    • For NFS - ports 111 and 2049.

    • For CIFS - ports 139 and 445.

  4. Ensure that NFS volume export policies include the IP address of the BlueXP classification instance so it can access the data on each volume.

  5. If you use CIFS, provide BlueXP classification with Active Directory credentials so it can scan CIFS volumes.

    1. From the BlueXP left navigation menu, click Governance > Classification and then select the Configuration tab.

      A screenshot of the Compliance tab that shows the Scan Status button that's available in the top right of the content pane.

    2. For each working environment, click Edit CIFS Credentials and enter the user name and password that BlueXP classification needs to access CIFS volumes on the system.

      The credentials can be read-only, but providing admin credentials ensures that BlueXP classification can read any data that requires elevated permissions. The credentials are stored on the BlueXP classification instance.

      If you want to make sure your files "last accessed times" are unchanged by BlueXP classification scans, we recommend that the user has Write Attributes permissions in CIFS or write permissions in NFS. If possible, we recommend making the Active Directory configured user part of a parent group in the organization which has permissions to all files.

      After you enter the credentials, you should see a message that all CIFS volumes were authenticated successfully.

      A screenshot that shows the Configuration page and one Cloud Volumes ONTAP system for which CIFS credentials were successfully provided.

  6. On the Configuration page, click View Details to review the status for each CIFS and NFS volume and correct any errors.

    For example, the following image shows four volumes; one of which BlueXP classification can't scan due to network connectivity issues between the BlueXP classification instance and the volume.

    A screenshot of the View Details page in the scan configuration that shows four volumes; one of which isn't being scanned because of network connectivity between BlueXP classification and the volume.

Enable and disable compliance scans on volumes

You can start or stop mapping-only scans, or mapping and classification scans, in a working environment at any time from the Configuration page. You can also change from mapping-only scans to mapping and classification scans, and vice-versa. We recommend that you scan all volumes.

The switch at the top of the page for Scan when missing "write attributes" permissions is disabled by default. This means that if BlueXP classification doesn't have write attributes permissions in CIFS, or write permissions in NFS, that the system won't scan the files because BlueXP classification can't revert the "last access time" to the original timestamp. If you don't care if the last access time is reset, turn the switch ON and all files are scanned regardless of the permissions. Learn more.

A screenshot of the Configuration page where you can enable or disable scanning of individual volumes.

To: Do this:

Enable mapping-only scans on a volume

In the volume area, click Map

Enable full scanning on a volume

In the volume area, click Map & Classify

Disable scanning on a volume

In the volume area, click Off

Enable mapping-only scans on all volumes

In the heading area, click Map

Enable full scanning on all volumes

In the heading area, click Map & Classify

Disable scanning on all volumes

In the heading area, click Off
Note New volumes added to the working environment are automatically scanned only when you have set the Map or Map & Classify setting in the heading area. When set to Custom or Off in the heading area, you'll need to activate mapping and/or full scanning on each new volume you add in the working environment.

Scan data protection volumes

By default, data protection (DP) volumes are not scanned because they are not exposed externally and BlueXP classification cannot access them. These are the destination volumes for SnapMirror operations from an on-premises ONTAP system or from a Cloud Volumes ONTAP system.

Initially, the volume list identifies these volumes as Type DP with the Status Not Scanning and the Required Action Enable Access to DP volumes.

A screenshot showing the Enable Access to DP Volumes button that you can select to scan data protection volumes.

Steps

If you want to scan these data protection volumes:

  1. Click Enable Access to DP volumes at the top of the page.

  2. Review the confirmation message and click Enable Access to DP volumes again.

    • Volumes that were initially created as NFS volumes in the source ONTAP system are enabled.

    • Volumes that were initially created as CIFS volumes in the source ONTAP system require that you enter CIFS credentials to scan those DP volumes. If you already entered Active Directory credentials so that BlueXP classification can scan CIFS volumes you can use those credentials, or you can specify a different set of Admin credentials.

      A screenshot of the two options for enabling CIFS data protection volumes.

  3. Activate each DP volume that you want to scan.

Result

Once enabled, BlueXP classification creates an NFS share from each DP volume that was activated for scanning. The share export policies only allow access from the BlueXP classification instance.

Note: If you had no CIFS data protection volumes when you initially enabled access to DP volumes, and later add some, the button Enable Access to CIFS DP appears at the top of the Configuration page. Click this button and add CIFS credentials to enable access to these CIFS DP volumes.

Note Active Directory credentials are only registered in the storage VM of the first CIFS DP volume, so all DP volumes on that SVM will be scanned. Any volumes that reside on other SVMs will not have the Active Directory credentials registered, so those DP volumes won't be scanned.